Explosive projectile



Feb. 20, 1945. c, snm 2,369,924

EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILE Filed Oct. 20, 1941 IN V EN TOR.

WI TN ESS ES:

Patented F eb. 20, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to explosive projectiles, and its general object is to provide a projectile Or shell of the antiaircraft type, or in other words a projectile that is primarily designed for d'estroying or disabling aircrafts, not only by a direct hit or by fragments of the shell resulting from the bursting thereof, but also by a long rotating flexible element, such as a wire cable that is normally coiled within the body of the projectile and permanently fixed midway its ends centrally of the bOdy and at its ends upon diametrically opposite sides of the body, whereby upon bursting of the projectile the element is thrown into space with fragments of the body fixed to the ends thereof, and thus perform a destructive function over a much larger area than is possible by the explosion of projectiles now in general use.

An important object is to provide a projectile that can be fired from a smooth bore gun, yet the projectile will rotate to bring about the necessary stability thereof in flight, as well as for rotation of the flexible element after bursting of the projectile, and the speed of rotation of the projectile materially increases during flight, so that its greatest rotary speed is obtained as it nears the target, thus ample centrifugal force is produced to cause the flexible element to spread into space and thereby assure contact of said element together with the fragments of the projectile with the target for destroying or damaging the same.

A further object is to provide a projectile that includes a body which is weakened in a manner to assure that certain portions of the body will be carried by the ends of the flexible element after bursting of the body.

Another object is to provide a projectile that is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and capable of producing its intended function with utmost efiiciency.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawing wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view taken through the projectile or shell which forms-the subject matter of the present invention. I

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken approximately on line 22 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken approximately on line 3-3 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawing in detail, it Will be noted that the body of my projectile is made up of a hollow cylindrical rear or base section I and a hollow front section 2, the latter having a cylindrical inner portion and an outer portion 3 that is tapered inwardly in rounded formation to a front wall 3 having a centrally disposed opening therein. Fittingly mounted and secured within the opening is the shank 5 of a fuse cap 6 which may be of the percussion or time type.

The confronting ends of the sections are reduced to provide overlapping flanges 1 and 8 respectively, the flange 1 being longer than the flange 8 to provide an interior circumferential groove 9, to weaken the body at the juncture of the sections with each other, as will be apparent.

' The flanges are of course suitably secured together.

The rear section 5 is provided with a disk like base wall to having a stem ll formed on and extending centrally from the inner face thereof for disposal accordingly within the section I and the stem is reduced to provide a'shoulder l2 having a disk shaped partition 53 mounted thereon to provide a relatively small chamber M for a purpose which will be later described. The stem is further reduced to provide a relatively narrow outer portion it: having mounted thereon a spool like member 16 that is provided with a socket I! for receiving the portion 15 therein, as clearly shown in Figure 1, which also illustrates that the outer end of the stem is spaced from the inner end of the socket.

The spool like member is of a length to extend a considerable distance within the front section 2 and a transversely disposed groove it is provided in the outer end thereof, the groove having fixed therein a wire cable !9, midway its ends. The cable is coiled about the spool like member IB, and has its opposite end portions 20 fixed to the cylindrical inner portion of the front section 2 by ueshaped staples 2d, the staples being headed and the heads thereof are seated in recesses 22 in the outer face of the body, as best shown in Figure 2.

The space between the front wall 3 and the coiled cable provides a chamber 23 for explosive powder, while the chamber I4 is for the purpose of receiving what is generally termed rocket powder, or any slow burning powder or like material.

The base wall In is provided with spiral channels or passages 24 arranged in equidistantly spaced relation with respect to each other and the inlet ends of the passages 24 open into the chamber I4, while their outlet ends open through the periphery of the wall I0, the outlet ends being relatively wide for free exhaust of the gases from the burning material within the chamber I4. By that construction, it will be obvious that the gases from the burning material will escape through the passages 25; and thereby bring about rotation of the projectile in flight.

In order to ignite the material within the chamber Hi, I provide an ignition tube 25 extending from the cap 6 and into a bore 25 disposed longitudinally of the spool like member l6, and the stem H is provided with a longitudinally extending bore 2'. which like the bore 26 opens.

into the space '23 between the stem and the inner end of the socket ill, The bore 21 has its inner end opening into a transverse bore 29 in the stem H at the juncture thereof with the wall l0, as best shown in Figure l. The explosive powder in the chamber 23 is ignited through the me dium of an ignition tube 38 that extends from the cap in parallelism with the tube 25 and of course terminates at its inner end into the chamber 23, as shown.

Extending longitudinally of the front section 2, in equidistantly spaced relation with respect to each other, are grooves 3i that are disposed upon the opposite sides of the points of connection of the ends of the cable with the section 2, so as to weaken the section 2 accordingly, to assure that a portion of that section is fixed to the ends of, the cable after the projectile has bursted.

From the above description and disclosure the drawing, it is believed that the function of my projectile will be obvious, but it might be mentioned that when the powder within the chamber it becomes ignited, such will bring about rotation of the projectile in fiight even though it has not been fired from a gun having a rifled bore. That powder may be ignited by the firing of the gun, but in the form shown, it is preferably ignited by a time fuse substantially simultaneously with the firing of the gun or a short time thereafter, so as to stabilize the projectiles in flight. The rotation of the projectile gradually increases during fiight due to the constant escape of the gases through the passages 24. When the powder within the chamber 23 has become ignited, the section 2 will not only burst along the weakening-grooves 3i, but also will be separated from the base section which carries the cable, as the intermediate portion of the cable is fixed within the groove 18 of the spool like member. The powder within the chamber 23 may likewise be ignited by a time fuse or a percussion fuse, but in any event the cable is released and due to the centrifugal force produced by the rotation of the base section, the released portions of the cable will fiy out in space and of course rotate with the base section. The ends of the cable will have portions of the section 2 attached thereto, and those portions will be swung in a circle to perform a destructive function throughout a relatively large area.

After the projectile has bursted, it will be obvious that the air resistance against the section 5 which is then open, will be exceedingly great, consequently the travel of the section i will be materially decreased, yet the rotation will be increased, and thus bring about rapid rotary movement of the cable, together with the portions that are fixed to the outer ends thereof.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An explosive projectile comprising a hollow body including a cylindrical rear portion, a tapered front portion and a'rear wall, said body being weakened circumferentially adjacent the rearwall and longitudinally at intervals from adjacent its front end for a portion of its length, a stem formed on and extending centrally from the inner face of the rear wall, a spool-like member fixed on the stem and of a length to extend forwardly of the circumferential weakened portion, a cable coiled about the spool-like member and fixed intermediate its ends to the outer end of-said member, means securing the ends of the cable to the body forwardly of the circumferential weakened portion thereof and between the longitudinal weakened portions, said body having a chamber for explosive powder arranged forwardly of the coiled cable, and means for igniting said powder.

. 2. An explosive projectile comprising a hollow body including a cylindrical rear portion, a tapered front portion and a rear wall, said body being weakened circumferentially adjacent the rear wall and longitudinally at intervals from adjacent its front end for a portion of its length, a stem formed on and extending centrally from the inner face of the rear wall, a spool-like member fixed on the stem and of a length to extend for wardly of the circumferential weakened portion, a cable coiled about the spool-like member and fixed intermediate its ends to the outer end of said member, means securing the ends of the cable to the body forwardly of the circumferential weakened portion thereof and between the longitudinal weakened portions, said body having a chamher for explosive powder arranged forwardly of the coiled cable, means for igniting said powder, a partition arranged adjacent to and spaced from the rear wall for cooperation therewith to provide a chamber for slow-burning material, means for igniting said slow-burning material, and said rear wall having spirally arranged passages therethr-ough for the escape of gas of the slow-burning material to cause rotation of the projectile. 3. An explosive projectile comprising a hollow body including a cylindrical rear section, a front section, a front wall and a rear wall, a fuse cap secured to .the front wall, overlapped flanges formed on the confronting ends of the sections and secured to each other to provide an interior circumferential groove, said front section having interior grooves extending longitudinally thereof and opening into th circumferential groove, a

stem secured to and extending centrally from the inner face of the rear wall, a sp00l-like member secured to the stem and extending into the front section, said spool-like member having a transversely disposed groove in the outer endthereof,

tending grooves, said body having a chamber for explosive powder arranged forwardly of the cable, a partition cooperating with the rear wall to proviolea chamber for slow-burning material, an ignition tube extending from the fuse cap into the first chamber, said spool-like member and stem being bored longitudinally and. the bores thereof communicating with each other, an ignition tube I extending from the fuse cap and into the bore of said spool like member and the bore of the stem communicating with the slow-burning material chamber, and the rear wall having spirally arranged passages therethrough for exhaust gases from the slow-burning material to cause rotation of the projectile.

CONRAD SITTIG. 

